DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY LETTERKENNY ARMY DEPOT CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA and LOCAL 1442, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, FEDERAL DISTRICT 1, IAMAW, AFL-CIO

United States of America

BEFORE THE FEDERAL SERVICE
IMPASSES PANEL

In the Matter of

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
LETTERKENNY ARMY DEPOT
CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA

and

LOCAL 1442, NATIONAL
FEDERATION OF
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, FEDERAL DISTRICT 1,
IAMAW, AFL-CIO

Case No. 05 FSIP 102

DECISION AND ORDER

Local
1442, National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), Federal District 1, IAMAW,
AFL-CIO (Union), filed a request for assistance with the Federal Service
Impasses Panel (Panel) to consider a negotiation impasse under the Federal
Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (Statute), 5 U.S.C. § 7119, between
it and the Department of the Army, Letterkenny Army Depot, Chambersburg
Pennsylvania (Employer).

After
investigation of the request for assistance, which involves a dispute over
procedures for issuing On-The-Spot Awards,1/
the Panel determined that the parties should submit to the Panel their final
offers and supporting statements of position, including rebuttals, if any. The
parties also were advised that, after considering the entire record, the Panel
would resolve the dispute by taking whatever action it deems appropriate, which
could include the issuance of a binding decision. In accordance with the Panel's
procedural determination, the parties submitted their final offers, written
statements of position and rebuttals. The Panel has now considered the entire
record.

BACKGROUND

The
Employer's mission is to overhaul and refurbish tactical missiles and wheeled
vehicles for the armed services. The Union represents a bargaining unit
consisting of approximately 300 non-professional General Schedule employees.
Typical bargaining-unit positions are supply technician, information technology
specialist, production controller, engineering technician, equipment specialist,
management and budget analyst, and a variety of clerical positions. The parties'
most recent collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was implemented in 1992, for
an initial term of 3 years; it has been extended and remains in full force and
effect. In addition to the bargaining unit represented by the Union, there are
three other bargaining units on the Depot represented by the International
Association of Firefighters; the International Brotherhood of Police Officers;
and NFFE Local 1429. These three labor organizations are part of a partnership
council that remains active. The Union does not participate in the partnership
council, preferring the more traditional approach to labor-management relations.

In 1994,
the Employer replaced individual performance-based and incentive awards at
Letterkenny with annual monetary awards issued to all employees in the event
that the Depot meets its yearly production goals, referred to as
Net-Operating-Result Awards. The award amounts are the same regardless of an
employee's position or grade level, but they are granted only to those whose
performance is at least at the satisfactory level. The dispute herein arose when
the Employer decided that, in addition to Net-Operating-Result Awards, it would
provide employees with the opportunity to receive On-the-Spot Awards. During
partnership meetings between the Employer and the other three labor
organizations at the Depot, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was executed which
provides procedures for implementing AR 672-20 with respect to On-the-Spot
Awards. The Employer offered the same agreement to the Union; it was rejected,
however, and the Union turned to the Panel for assistance.

ISSUE

Essentially, the parties disagree over the procedures for implementing
On-the-Spot Awards. Central to their dispute is whether the Union should be
required to participate on an awards panel that makes recommendations to
management on award nominations for employees, including those outside the
bargaining unit it represents.

POSITIONS OF THE
PARTIES

a. The
Employer's Position

The
Employer proposes that, in addition to the Net-Operating-Result Awards,
employees be eligible to receive On-the-Spot Awards; annually, a budget of
$100,000 would be allocated for On-the-Spot Awards, with award amounts to range
from $50 to $500, in accordance with AR 672-20. On a quarterly basis,
supervisors would submit nominations that would be due on the last day of a
quarter. On the 15th day of the next quarter, the Director would submit the
nominations to the awards committee with all personal identifiers redacted from
each nomination. The awards committee would consist of the Deputy Director and
one of the four local Union presidents who would rotate membership quarterly.2/
The awards committee would meet on the 20th day of the quarter to recommend
approval/disapproval of the award and the award amount to the Commander; tie
votes would be broken by the Deputy Commander. By the 35th day of the quarter,
the Commander or designee would approve the On-the-Spot Award recommendation,
and the employee issued an SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action that would be
filed in the employee's Official Personnel Folder. Lastly, the Commander would
publicly recognize the award recipients at the next quarterly Length of Service
ceremony.

Its
proposal would implement the same agreement the Employer has reached with the
three other labor organizations representing employees at Letterkenny. Thus, a
consistent On-the-Spot Awards policy would be applied to all bargaining-unit
employees on the Depot. The other labor organizations that have agreed to the
awards procedure support the use of a committee or panel to consider award
nominations because it would help ensure that employees receive awards based on
merit and fairness. The awards panel would not approve the award, but recommend
action on a supervisor's nomination to the Commander; the Union, therefore,
would not have the responsibility of actually approving an award. Having an
awards panel weigh in on award nominations should diminish complaints that
otherwise could emerge from the awards process. Awards panel members would be
making an objective evaluation of an anonymous award package and, therefore, the
Union would not be in the position of representing any particular
bargaining-unit member. Finally, the Employer's authorization of official time
for a Union representative to participate on the awards panel appears consistent
with the provisions of the Statute.

b. The
Union's Position

The
Union proposes that "(t)he Agency [] implement, approve/disapprove, and
process the On-the-Spot cash awards expeditiously in accordance with [] AR
672-20 for the NFFE Local 1442's bargaining-unit employees." On-the-Spot
Awards should not involve a cumbersome approval process. Its proposal would
allow employees to receive their cash awards quicker than under the Employer's
process, as intended by the regulation, and remains true to the
"on-the-spot" concept for which the award is named. In fact, the
procedure proposed by the Employer "does not comply with" various
sections of AR 672-20, the parties' CBA, or the Statute, and would not "add
fairness, equity or consistency to the approval process, or curtail
favoritism." In addition, there is no need for Union participation in the
approval process; if the Union is removed from the awards panel, the potential
of conflicts of interest for the Union would not arise.3/

CONCLUSIONS

Having
carefully considered the arguments and evidence offered by the parties, we are
persuaded that the impasse should be resolved on the basis of the Union's
position. We note that this dispute involves an employer attempting to compel a
union to engage in partnership-type activities, that is, to be represented and
participate in an awards approval process along with management and three other
labor organizations. In our view, the Union's decision to decline the
opportunity for such involvement provides sufficient grounds for the Panel not
to require it to participate. There also is no evidence that the Employer would
suffer any significant burden from administering an On-the-Spot Awards approval
process for the Union's bargaining unit that differs from the one agreed to by
the other unions. For these reasons, we shall order the adoption of the Union's
proposal to resolve the dispute.

ORDER

Pursuant
to the authority vested in it by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations
Statute, 5 U.S.C. § 7119, and because of the failure of the parties to resolve
their dispute during the course of proceedings instituted under its regulations,
5 C.F.R. § 2471.6(a)(2), the Federal Service Impasses Panel under § 2471.11(a)
of its regulations hereby orders the following:

Under
Army Regulation (AR) 672-20, titled “Incentive Awards,” issued January
29 1999, Section 4-4, an On-the-Spot Award is defined as a cash award
which may be given by a supervisor for day-to-day accomplishments of
subordinate employees.According
to the regulation, the processing of these awards is to be accomplished as
expeditiously as possible.AR
672-20 was modified in 2001 to increase the amount of On-the-Spot cash
awards to anywhere from $50 to $500.